Hi,
Thank you very much for the question. We are sorry to hear about your experience.
A Permanent Resident (PR) is required to comply with the residency obligation prescribed in section 28(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). With respect to a five-year period, on each of a total of at least 730 days in that five-year period, the PR should be physically present in Canada or meet other limited exceptions.
When you come back to Canada, you will be examined by an officer. Since you got your PR in less than 5 years, the examining officer will determine if you are able to meet the 730-day criterion during the first 5-years period immediately after your arrival in Canada (i.e. look backwards and into the future to see if you can meet the requirement). Even if you reside outside of Canada for up to 3 years following the date of first arrival in Canada (July 2020 in your case), you need to demonstrate that you will meet or did meet the residency obligation. In other words, for your first PR Card only, as long as you still have the possibility of complying with the requirement to be in Canada for 730 days, you will be allowed into Canada. You may find this requirement in subparagraph 28(2)(b)(i) of the IRPA.
Therefore, when you come back to Canada in September 2022, you should be able to meet the residency requirement, so long as you remain physically present in Canada. It should be noted that after your first PR Card (or after the first 5 years of being a PR of Canada), the Officer will only look backwards to see if you met the 730 day physical presence requirement – they are not allowed to look into the future.
You should only renew your PR Card once you have met the physical presence test (i.e. once you have accumulated 730 days of physical presence in Canada), otherwise the officer may determine that you are not a PR of Canada. Also, you can only renew your PR card within Canada.
We hope that this general information is helpful and we recommend that you seek legal help from a lawyer or a licensed consultant familiar with Canadian immigration to obtain assistance about your particular circumstances.
Please let us know if you have further questions.
Sincerely,
Your Settlement.Org team
Disclaimer:
This document does not contain legal advice. This document was prepared with the assistance of PBSC University of Toronto law student volunteers. PBSC volunteers are not lawyers and they are not authorized to provide legal advice. This document contains general discussion of certain legal and related issues only. If you require legal advice, please consult with a lawyer.